Over $390,000 to Support North Dakota Rural DevelopmentNorth Dakota Ag Connection - 08/10/2018

Senator John Hoeven, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee and a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Thursday announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development is investing $390,087 in rural development projects in communities throughout North Dakota. Details are as follows:

- Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa -- $108,221 -- The funds will be used to provide technical assistance to entrepreneurs and emerging and small agriculture-related businesses. The project is intended to provide training for 16 entrepreneurs, four small business start-ups, four new farmers markets and four new micro-businesses.

- Bismarck State College -- $99,859 -- The funds will be used for a mobile simulation lab to help train rural nursing students, enabling them to obtain their degrees and helping rural communities reduce their dependence on traveling nurses. The project is estimated to create 20 new jobs over the next three years.

- City of Anamoose -- $67,866 -- The funds will be used to complete renovations of a vacant building that will be leased by a start-up steakhouse restaurant, which will source locally produced ingredients and foods. The project is estimated to create six new jobs.

- City of Beach -- $50,000 -- The funds will be used to conduct a business retention and expansion survey to help the community develop strategies to meet the needs of local businesses, working in tandem with the State of North Dakota's Main Street Initiative.

- Linton Industrial Development Corporation -- $42,141 -- The funds will be used to develop a marketing plan for Plains Mobile, Inc., a technology business that develops custom cloud-based software for businesses. The project is estimated to create two full-time jobs and support three existing jobs.

- Northern Plains Resource Conservation -- $22,000 -- The funds will be used to study the feasibility of establishing a food and ingredient supply network in a 10-county area in northeast North Dakota. The network would connect local restaurants, grocers and other businesses with local food producers.

"Today's investments will help support small businesses, entrepreneurs and communities, enabling them to grow and compete in a global marketplace," Hoeven said. "This growth will create jobs and support the economies of these rural areas in North Dakota."